


Nightfall

by orphan_account



Category: South Park
Genre: Character Death, Horror, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Until Dawn inspired AU, multiple character deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-11 04:42:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8954065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When they become trapped in the mountains after heading up there in hopes of finding a friend they lost, the teens of South Park find themselves stumbling upon something far more sinister than they originally suspected. What was supposed to be a peaceful gathering soon becomes a battle for survival against the elements, a dangerous stranger and something not entirely human as they fight to stay alive until the morning.





	1. The Inevitable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited about writing this one because it's inspired by a game that I really love. It's not going to follow the exact same storyline as Until Dawn, but some parts will be pretty similar.
> 
> It isn't really a South Park fanfic until Token has hosted a disastrous party so I thought why not get it over with in the first chapter?

Kyle was so fucking dead.

He had taken Ike to Token’s party in his family’s new holiday home up in the mountains because he didn’t want to leave him alone to deal with their parents’ bullshit. He had promised his mom several times that he would look after him and make sure he didn’t leave his sight. Now he hadn’t seen any sign of him in about three and a half hours and was trying not to panic as he fought his way through a crowd of intoxicated people to try and find him. 

He made it to the kitchen, where he remembered seeing some of the others after about fifteen minutes of weaving through sweaty, drunk people and immediately slammed his hands on the counter, causing Cartman and Kenny to jump mid drink. “Jesus Christ Kyle! What the fuck?!” Cartman cursed as his drink spilled over the rim of the glass, narrowly missing his shirt.

“We were kind of in the middle of a drinking competition,” Kenny pointed out.

“Where’s Ike?” Kyle yelled over the music. “Have either of you seen him?”

“I thought he was with you,” Cartman replied. “You said you weren’t gonna let him out of your sight.”

“I know! I fucking know what I said, ok?!” Kyle snapped, beginning to panic. “We got separated in that chaos out there!” he gestured behind him at the crowd.

“Yeah, I don’t think Token was expecting this many people,” Kenny explained. “Are you sure Ike didn’t just go and find Stan when he noticed you weren’t there?”

Kyle shook his head. “I saw Stan taking Wendy upstairs a while ago.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah. Awesome. I’m so happy for him. Now can we please focus on the real issue here?” Kyle asked frantically. “Like how my mom is going to fucking murder me when she finds out that I failed to keep the one promise I made to her.”

“Kyle, fucking chill. It’s ok.” Kenny stood up, wobbling a little on his feet and grabbed the counter to steady himself. “I’m sure everything is just fucking fine and you’re stressing the fuck out over nothing. Let’s just go ask Token if he’s seen Ike since it’s his party and his house and all,” he suggested.

Kyle took a deep breath. “Ok, sure. Let’s go find him.”

“Cool, I think he’s outside.” Kenny placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry dude, we’ll find your brother.” 

“Yeah,” Cartman agreed, sliding out of his seat and following them. “He probably just heard the call of a moose and went outside to investigate it like his Canadian blood told him to.”

Kyle shot a glare that could have killed a lesser man at Cartman over his shoulder. “Now is not the time, Fatass,” he warned. Knowing how fiercely protective Kyle could get over his little brother, Cartman decided not to push it.

The three of them reached the front door and headed outside, shivering against the heavy snow that fell around them. “I can’t see shit,” Kyle complained. “Why would anyone be out here in this?” 

“Don’t ask me,” Kenny shrugged. “All I know is that I saw him come running out here with Tweek earlier.”

“No Craig?” Cartman asked. “I thought those two were attached at the dick.” 

“It’s ‘attached at the _hip_ ’, Cartman,” Kyle corrected halfheartedly, rolling his eyes.

“Not from what I’ve heard,” Cartman mumbled under his breath.

Kenny shook his head. “Craig wasn’t with them. I actually haven’t seen him or Clyde apart from when we first got here.”

“Why is everyone at this party disappeari-oof,” Kyle was cut off as something ran straight into him. The collision almost sent him sprawling and he closed his eyes, bracing himself against the impact, but a pair of hands locked on his shoulders and held him firmly in place. 

He opened his eyes to see an extremely concerned looking Tweek. “Kyle!” he exclaimed, before pulling him into a tight hug. “Oh thank God you’re alive!”

Kyle stiffened before hugging back awkwardly. He threw a confused glance at Kenny and Cartman, who shrugged back at him. A few seconds later, Token appeared, hunching over to catch his breath. “Kyle! You’re ok?” he panted. Kyle nodded slowly, still wondering what the heck was going on. Token let out a relieved sigh. “Oh man, I thought I was going to have to call the authorities. My parents would have killed me.”

“Ok… no offense,” Kyle intervened, pushing Tweek back a little, “but what the actual fuck is going on here? Why are you so happy to see me?”

Tweek and Token shared a look. “Wait so you weren’t… in danger out here?” Token inquired tentatively.

“What are you talking about?” Kyle questioned. “I’ve been inside this entire time.”

“Some random guy showed up like half an hour ago and started freaking out about how he’d seen you out here and you were in danger,” Tweek explained. “He said something about you being trapped under a fallen tree.”

Token nodded. “We left Craig and Clyde inside so they could call someone if we got lost out here or if you turned up again before we could find you and we’ve been out here with your brother looking for you ever since.”

A chill ran down Kyle’s spine.

“What random guy?” Cartman queried. “Who outside of us even fucking knows Ky-”

“You were with Ike?” Kyle interrupted. “Where is he now?”

“He went off looking in that direction the last time I saw him,” Token said, pointing towards an area of woodland behind him.

Kyle stared in the direction Token was pointing for all of 0.5 seconds before taking off towards the trees, ignoring the others when they called after him. Cartman hesitated for a second, glancing between the safe, warm house and the trees Kyle had just run towards. “God fucking damnit!” he cursed. “Go find the others and get ready to call someone if we don’t come back,” he instructed the other three.

“What about you?” Token challenged. “What are you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna go follow the reckless jew,” he replied as if it was obvious.

Kenny went to argue. “But-”

“Just do it,” Cartman ordered. “You’ve had more to drink than me and it would be ridiculous and pointless as fuck if all of us went running into the woods and got lost like a bunch of clueless assholes.”

Before any further protests could be made, he set off after the other boy. He disappeared into the trees with an usual amount of speed for him.

Tweek sighed. “As much as I hate to say this out loud, Cartman has a point. It wouldn’t be any good to anyone if we all got lost out here and froze to death.”

“Ok,” Kenny conceded. “Let’s go.”

“IKE!” Kyle called, shivering a little as he tried to follow the path in front of him. “IKE WHERE ARE YOU?”

He pulled his jacket tighter around him. “It would help if I could see more than five centimeters in front of my face,” he grumbled. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and frowned when he saw that there was no service. An idea occurred to him and he quickly pressed a few buttons on his phone, smiling a little when the built in torch suddenly lit up the path. “That’s more like it.”

A noise up ahead caught his attention and he picked up his pace, his steps crunching loudly in the snow. “IKE!” he called desperately.

Kyle held his breath during the beat of silence that followed, his heart racing in his chest. Relief washed over him when he heard a faint, answering call in his brother’s voice. He broke into a sprint, shoving branches aside and narrowly avoiding tripping on rocks in his path. “IKE!” he called again.

“KYLE!” Ike responded.

Kyle found himself thanking every higher power he’d ever heard of as he clambered through the forest at a breakneck speed in the hopes of finding Ike faster. “IKE! WHERE ARE YOU?” 

“I’M OVER HERE, KYLE!” Ike yelled.

Kyle followed the sound of his voice, hurtling over any obstacles in his way and paying no attention to the bitter cold that was biting at his skin. He must have been quite far from the others now because he could no longer hear the pulsing beat of the music or the hum of conversation emanating from the overcrowded mountain house. The distant calls of his name had faded away into the night air a while ago too and he wasn’t even entirely sure how he was going to get back anymore, but he had to keep going.

Eventually, he broke through the trees into a small clearing and there, sitting in the snow, was his little brother’s shivering form. He rushed over to the smaller boy, dropping to his knees and scooping him up into a tight embrace.

“Oh my God! Oh thank God! I thought something bad was gonna happen to you! Don’t ever fucking scare me like that again! I swear to God, I don’t know what I would have done if anything bad had happened to you!”

“I’m sorry, Kyle,” Ike replied, shaking slightly as he latched onto the material of his brother’s jacket. “I was asking your friends if they’d seen you after we got separated and this guy came up to us talking about how you were stuck out here somewhere and then I got lost out here looking for you and I couldn’t find the way back to the others.”

“It’s ok, Ike,” Kyle reassured him, standing and pulling Ike up with him. “Everything's gonna be ok now because I’m here and I know the way…” He had grabbed his little brother’s hand, turning to head back through the forest only to freeze as he looked around and realised that everywhere he turned looked the same. 

“Shit.”

“You don’t know the way back either, do you?” Ike deadpanned.

“Sass isn’t going to help us get out of here,” Kyle berated him. He scanned the tree line, hoping to see something that looked familiar or hear someone calling out to them. All that greeted him was silence and unfamiliarity. “Ok, so I got nothing.”

Ike jumped at the sound of a twig snapping somewhere behind them, his head whipping around towards the source of the noise. “Kyle?” he whispered, tugging on his brother’s sleeve.

“What is it?” Kyle asked, momentarily breaking his concentration to look back at his brother.

“I think we should leave now,” Ike suggested cautiously.

“I’m trying to think of a way to get us back to the party, Ike. We’ll start walking soon I promise.”

Ike tried to calm down, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes on his back. He tried not to look behind him again, but he couldn’t ignore the prickling sensation of goosebumps crawling up his spine to the nape of his neck. Curiosity eventually got the better of him and he slowly turned, the tension in his muscles making his movements stiff and robotic. A spike of terror shot through him from his toes to the crown of his head when he saw the figure just beyond the first line of trees.

It was tall and wiry and its limbs stretched out in a way that clearly wasn’t human. It was hunched over, almost to the point of being on all fours, as if they were its prey and it was preparing to pounce. Its eyes were glowing an eerie pearlescent white as it stared blankly into the clearing.

Ike couldn’t move, he was frozen on the spot, unable to do anything but stare at the creature. He tried to call out to his brother, to tell him they needed to run, but he couldn’t get the sounds to come out of his throat. His heart pounded and he subconsciously held his breath when the thing moved, showcasing a supernatural speed and strikingly sharp, inhuman movements. Its movements stilled, and Ike exhaled, standing perfectly still as if even the smallest gesture could trigger an attack.

“Kyle!” he whispered sharply, his hand wrapping around the older boy’s wrist and squeezing. 

“Ike what?!” Kyle snapped back, matching his brother’s whispered tone and turning to glare at him. His eyebrows raised when he noticed that his little brother wasn’t looking at him and he failed to hold back a gasp when he followed his brother’s line of sight. “Ike w-what the hell is that thing?”

“I don’t know,” Ike answered, still not taking his eyes off the figure in the trees. 

The two of them backed up slowly and cautiously, Kyle maneuvering them so that Ike was behind him. They took tentative steps, pausing any time their shoes crunched a little too loud in the snow below them. The whole time neither of them took their eyes off the creature in front of them. Soon there was no where else to go though as Ike’s back hit one of the trees behind them.

“Ike, we need to leave. Now.” Kyle spoke in a slow, hushed tone, just loud enough for the both of them to hear. He grabbed Ike’s hand and held onto it for dear life. “When I tell you to run, you run as fast as you possibly can. Don’t let go of my hand and don’t look back. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Ok.” Kyle took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly in a failed attempt to calm himself. He counted to three in his head, preparing himself to sprint like his life depended on it. Steeling himself for what was about to happen, he rubbed his thumb against the side of his brother’s hand reassuringly. “RUN!” he commanded.

The next few minutes were a blur of trees and snow as the boys ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Somehow Kyle knew this wasn’t the right way back to the party, but he hoped that if they kept going they would eventually find somewhere safe enough to stop and figure out a way back. He could hear rustling and footsteps in the distance and his heart felt like it was in his throat, but he never once loosened his grip on Ike’s hand.

“IS IT STILL FOLLOWING US?!” Ike yelled.

“I DON’T KNOW!” Kyle answered. “JUST KEEP RUNNING!”

A bloodcurdling animalistic screech rang through the air around them and Kyle felt Ike’s grip on his hand tighten. He pushed onwards ignoring the cold conditions. His lungs burned and his legs ached, but he focused on nothing but getting them to safety. 

He could see an opening up ahead and his hopes picked up slightly as he wondered if maybe they had been going the right way after all. Just before they reached the trees though, Ike tripped on an exposed root and plummeted to the ground, almost dragging Kyle with him. 

Ike pushed himself back up onto his feet with some help from his brother. He took a step forwards, only to hiss and immediately take the weight off his leg again. The two boys shared a panic stricken look and for the first time since they’d started running, Kyle registered that Ike was crying, the puffy skin around his eyes suggesting that he’d been crying before he fell.

“Hey,” Kyle said, placing his hands on Ike’s shoulders. “It’s ok, I’m here. I got you,” he assured him, giving him a quick hug. “If you can’t run, I’ll just have to carry you, ok?”

Ike nodded, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. 

Kyle offered him a reassuring smile. “Ok, so if you jus-”

A loud, clunking footstep hit the ground behind them and Kyle whipped around, pulling his little brother behind him. This wasn’t the quick, light footsteps that he’d heard earlier when the creature had been following them, but the earlier events had left him tense and more than slightly paranoid. 

He would have been relieved to see that whatever that thing was back there was no longer chasing them. However, the new figure in their path wasn’t any less threatening. This time he was sure it was a human, but everything about their body language screamed ‘dangerous’ and he could clearly see the shape of a gun in the person’s hand. 

As they took a step forwards, Kyle took a step back. Soon Kyle and Ike had backed out of the forest and were out in the open. Kyle’s heart dropped a little when the house was still nowhere to be seen and the newest threat to their safety was still approaching. The brothers gasped when the man stepped out into the open and they saw the mask covering his face and the belt full of weapons around his waist.

They had just managed to outrun some kind of paranormal creature and now they were being approached by a gun wielding maniac. Perfect.

“What do you want from us?” Kyle asked, trying to remain calm as he felt Ike tuck himself further behind him. “We’re just here for a party, we haven’t done anything to bother anyone. Please, just let us go.”

The man showed no signs of listening to his plea. He stepped forwards, raising his free hand out towards them. Kyle backed up again, not paying any attention to his surroundings. If he had he might have noticed the sharp drop behind them.

The seconds that followed felt like they happened in slow motion, but Kyle was still nowhere near quick enough to change anything about them. He heard Ike let out a loud yell and turned just in time to see him fall and grab his arm. He tried to keep the other boy from falling, but the momentum tugged him over the edge too and he just about managed to grasp one of the branches protruding from the cliff face to stop their fall.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my fucking god!” Kyle panicked as the situation registered with him. He and Ike had a vice like grip on each other’s arms and Ike was staring up at him with wide eyes. He glanced up at the branch he was holding onto, seeing a faint hint of red from where he was gripping the splinter ridden wood hard enough to break his skin.

Kyle’s stomach dropped when it hit him that his white knuckled grip on the branch was the only thing preventing them both from falling to their death. He was unable to stop the tears from running down his cheeks, some of them leaving a salty, bitter taste in his mouth, as he realised that he could only keep this up for so long. He had to hold it together as best as he could though because as long as they were both still alive, his brother was depending on him.

“HELP!” Kyle screamed as loud as he could. “SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!”

His throat hurt, but he had every intention of continuing until Ike spoke up. “Give up, Kyle!” he sobbed. “No one is coming to save us!”

“You don’t know that Ike!” Kyle snapped. “The others know where we are! They’re probably all looking for us right now!”

“Uh huh and what if that fucking thing in the forest or that cunt with all the weapons got them and now they’re just as royally fucked as we are?!”

“Watch your language!” Kyle scolded.

“Fuck my fucking language! I’m going to fucking die!” Ike yelled hysterically.

Kyle was about to argue, but his words were cut short as the branch he was holding onto creaked ominously. “Fuck,” he cursed under his breath.

“Let go of me,” Ike demanded suddenly. “Let go of me, Kyle! Let me fall!”

“What the fuck Ike?! No!”

“I mean it Kyle, let go of me,” Ike insisted. “That branch isn’t going to hold up with both of us weighing down on it and you’d have more of a chance of being rescued you if you weren’t holding onto me.”

“No! I’m not letting you die! Why the fuck would you even ask me to do that?!” Kyle yelled, his breath coming out shaky as he tried to fight back his tears. “Stop talking like that, Ike!” 

Ike met his older brother’s pleading look with one of determination. “I love you, big brother, and I don’t want you to die because of me. Let. Go.”

“I love you too, Ike. You’re the best brother I ever could have asked for.” Ike slowly loosened his grip on Kyle’s arm in the hopes that his brother would take the hint that he was ok with this, that he had accepted it. Kyle wasn’t having any of it though, refusing to let his grasp on his brother’s arm falter even a little. “Which is why I can’t let you die because of me either.”

“Ky-”

“No! I don’t want to hear it!” Kyle argued. “I promised I would stay with you at all times and not let you out of my sight and that’s what I’m going to do! We either get rescued together or we die together! Understand?”

A brief pause followed before Kyle felt his brother’s hand slowly encircling his arm again. “I understand,” Ike mumbled.

“Good,” Kyle answered firmly. “Now help me call for help.”

The two of them continued to shout until their throats stung, holding their breath every time the branch made a sound. They were beginning to tire and it looked like it wouldn’t be long before the branch gave out when they heard a voice in the distance that sounded like Cartman’s. 

“KYLE!” the voice called again. Kyle was almost certain it was Cartman this time. “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!” The brothers shared a slightly hopeful look.

Kyle tried to call him, only for his voice to give up on him half way through as it erupted into coughs. Ike made an attempt too, but his voice came out strained, croaky and barely louder than a whisper. 

“HELP! OVER HERE!” Kyle shouted as soon as the coughing eased up, wincing as it scraped his throat and his voice hardly carried. He let out a frustrated sigh. “Think you can hold on a little longer?” he questioned, glancing down at his brother.

“I can, but I don’t know about that branch,” Ike replied. 

As if on cue, a snapping noise emitted from the branch in question. “Well, this is just fucking typical,” Kyle commented, the fear in his voice barely hidden.

“Hey,” Ike said weakly, getting his older brother’s attention. “It’s ok, I’m here.”

Kyle smiled briefly at the repetition of his words from earlier. "I’m sorry, Ike,” he apologised, a stray tear escaping down his face.

“What for?” Ike questioned with a sad smile. “You kept your promise.”

Before Kyle could say anything else, he felt the branch separate with a resounding crack and closed his eyes tightly as the sensation of falling took hold of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I really just kill off my favourite character in the first chapter? You'll have to stay tuned to find out.


	2. The Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays! I hope you’ve been having a good time so far.
> 
> I started rewriting this chapter halfway through because I decided I didn't like the way I was writing Eric in it so hopefully this is ok.
> 
> Also, as with most of my writing, I'm Welsh so if I slip up and use Welsh English I'm sorry. I had a bit of an internal debate over whether to use 'trunk' or 'boot' and I had to research driving ages and high school ages because they are all high schoolers in this, not that it matters because I'm pretty sure Stan has driven before on the actual show, but there you go.

“In other news, it’s been three months since the Broflovski siblings went missing and so far all efforts to find them have still been unsuccessful, we’re going to speak to the person in charge of the search to find out what he has to say on the situat-”

Stan reached over without taking his eyes off the road and jabbed the radio’s power button with his index finger before letting his hand settle back on the wheel again. Cartman glared at him from the passenger’s seat. “What the fuck was that for, asshole?” he questioned. “That could have been important!”

Stan sighed. “Why are we doing this?” he inquired. “Why are we going back there? What’s the point?” 

His hands were tight on the steering wheel as they passed through town, all of their familiar hangouts blurring into the background. Cartman didn’t respond right away, staring at Stan as if he was trying to figure out if those had been trick questions. Kenny and Butters observed from the back seat, frowns on their faces as they prepared themselves for the same argument they’d been hearing every day for the past week. 

Things had been pretty uncomfortable and distant between them ever since Kyle hadn’t returned. It wasn’t just their small group either, Kyle’s absence seemed to have a domino effect on the majority of their year group. 

The night Kyle disappeared, Cartman had searched the snow enveloped mountain until the cold set into his bones and turned his hands and feet numb. Stan and Kenny had intervened in the end and dragged him back to the warmth of the house, but that hadn’t stopped him from getting ill. At least that was his excuse, Kenny wasn’t entirely sure if it was true though or if Cartman just hadn’t wanted to see anyone. In any case, he didn’t show up at school for at least two weeks after that. When he eventually did turn up again, he was hardly ever around that often, only hanging out with the others when it was completely unavoidable.

As for Stan, he really hadn’t dealt with things well either. It was pretty obvious that he was beating himself up for stepping out of the party with Wendy and it was even more obvious that Cartman kind of resented him for it too. The problem was that neither of them would actually approach the issue, so the atmosphere between the group was always strained. Sometimes it felt as if they were only still hanging out together because it was all they knew.

“All of the reports so far have said that they’re missing, not dead,” Cartman answered eventually. “So Kyle might still be out there somewhere and we stand a better chance of finding something than the fucking useless as shit adults in this town do.”

“It’s been months, Cartman,” Stan stressed, exasperation evident in his voice. “I hate to break it to you, but if no one has found any signs of either of them by now, they aren’t going to. We all miss Kyle, but at some point we’re going to have to just accept that he’s probably not coming back and move on.”

“What? Like you have?” he retorted sarcastically. “What happened to the Stan who convinced the whole town to buy new cars just because he thought it would bring Kyle back?”

Hurt flashed across the other boy’s expression. “He was in a different state with his family back then, not lost and probably dead in the woods somewhere on a freezing cold, snow covered mountain.” Cartman was about to respond when Stan continued. “At least I’m not dragging everyone back to the scene of the crime with the false hope that he’s going to magically return like this is some kind of fucking disney movie where everything is going to be ok in the end! That’s not how life works and the sooner you realise that the sooner we can all stop wasting our goddamn time chasing after miracles that aren’t going to happen!”

Kenny tried to stay out of it, but he couldn’t fight the irritation bubbling up inside him, settling just underneath the surface. “What would be a better option Stan?” he snapped. “Sitting around, waiting to hear whether one of our best friends is dead or not? Watching everyone fall apart? Pretending you aren’t considering drinking yourself to an early grave?” He saw Stan’s grip tighten on the wheel and his shoulders tense ever so slightly. 

Cartman looked back at Kenny in shock, not expecting him to snap like that. “Damn, Ken,” he mumbled.

“Don’t think I’m taking your fucking side on this either,” Kenny added. “You can’t just fucking shut yourself away from the world for months on end without saying a word to anyone and then come barging back in with some master plan and expect us all to just drop everything and follow you up a fucking mountain like you haven’t been ignoring us this whole time.”

Both boys were silent for a few minutes. Kenny briefly wondered if he’d overstepped a line, but decided that it was all stuff that had needed to be said at some point. If Kyle wasn’t here to call them out on their bullshit then he guessed he’d just have to step in as substitute for now.

“I wasn’t ignoring anyone,” Cartman denied. “I was trying to come up with a plan.”

Kenny sighed. “I know it’s hard not to feel like you could have done more,” he sympathised, “but you have to realise that we all feel like that. You’re not alone. You did everything you possibly could and you need to stop shutting everyone out and treating them like shit because at this point most of us are just really fucking worried about you dude.”

“I’m fucking fine, it’s not me who was left stranded in the mountains.”

“Why are you so determined to find Kyle anyway?” Stan questioned. “I thought you hated him.”

“Look, I know we always argued a lot, but Kyle’s important to me,” Cartman confessed. “He always challenged me and called me out on my bullshit, even when everyone else just let me get on with things because they didn’t think I would ever change. He never gave up on me, so I’m not gonna give up on him this time.”

Kenny and Butters shared a look, they had known for a while that what Cartman felt for Kyle wasn’t actually animosity, but they hadn’t expected him to acknowledge it even to himself let alone in front of all of them. The car was silent for a few tense moments apart from the sounds of the engine. Cartman stared out of the window next to him, refusing to look anywhere else.

“I still don’t completely trust your motives,” Stan mumbled suddenly, “but you’re right… I’m sorry.”

“What was that?” Cartman questioned.

“I said you’re right and I’m sorry, ok?” he snapped. “Can we just put some crappy music on and forget this conversation happened until we get there?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Kenny and Butters glanced at each other again, relieved that the others seemed to have reached a truce for now. It had mostly fallen on their shoulders to try and pick up the pieces lately, which wasn’t easy when both Stan and Cartman could be too stubborn for their own good at the best of times. They had managed to keep Stan from picking up the bottle again and got Cartman to leave his room a couple of times so there had been some small victories. It was hard trying to stay optimistic though when it was so obvious that the mood between the group had changed. 

It seemed ridiculous to keep hoping that they’d find Kyle, to keep a place for him in their lives when he had been gone for quite a while now, but it seemed no one was really ready let go yet either. That’s why they hoped that returning to the mountain would at least result in something, even if it was just closure. This would be good for all of them, at least that’s what they had been telling themselves when they agreed to go along with it.

They were well into their ascent, approaching the area where Token’s house was when Stan finally broke the silence. “Woah look at that,” he said. The others looked up to see what had caught his attention and Butters let out a gasp when the boys set eyes on the sign up ahead. 

The last time they had passed this sign, it had been a simple, unassuming welcome sign. Now it was covered in missing persons posters, but that wasn’t what had grabbed their attention. Scrawled across the papers in red were the words ‘TURN BACK NOW’. A chill crawled up Stan’s spine the closer he drove to it and he slowed his speed a little without realising it. 

“Who do you think did that?” Kenny inquired, ignoring the unsettling sensation he got from looking at it. 

“You don’t think that’s actually… blood, do you?” Butters added.

“It was probably just a bunch of kids fucking around with red paint because they heard about what happened up here and wanted to mess with people,” Cartman dismissed, exhaustion evident in his tone.

“Yeah, let’s just ignore it and keep going,” Stan suggested, speeding up again.

It looked like a sign just outside Token’s place had received the same treatment because they could see him and Clyde ripping posters off it as they approached. Craig and Tweek were stood to the side of them, Tweek talking rapidly and gesturing frantically at the other boy as he attempted to calm him down. Clyde and Token turned upon hearing the car, Token nodding in acknowledgement and Clyde offering them an awkward wave, but the other two boys paid them no attention. 

“This is going to be such a productive day,” Stan muttered sarcastically, as he drove past and pulled up next to the building.

“That’s the spirit!” Butters replied, either oblivious to the tone or just ignoring it. 

Tweek still seemed to be stressed out as the group walked over to greet them, talking to Craig in hushed tones at the back of the group with a deep frown on his face. The boys caught the end of their conversation as they stepped out of the car. “I get why we’re doing this, but I swear to god-”

“I don’t really want to be here right now either,” Craig admitted, “but it’s going to be fine, Tweek,” he assured him, reaching out to take his hand. “All of us are here together and we’ll all be leaving before nightfall. We can’t stay here any longer than that anyway because the house is still technically a potential crime scene.”

“That last part really doesn’t make me feel better,” Tweek noted, “but fine.”

“Hey guys!” Kenny called, interrupting them before anyone else could get involved. “What’s up?”

“Well, we weren’t expecting those creative messages on the signs back there and I’m pretty sure my parents would lose it if they saw them, but they’ve only been here once since they bought the place so I doubt that’s gonna be a problem any time soon,” said Token.

“Eric said it was probably just a bunch of kids fucking around,” Butters mentioned.

Tweek scoffed at that, but before anyone could question what that was about Cartman spoke up. “Did you guys bring the things I asked you to bring?” he asked.

“Token brought maps, compasses and a fancy gps watch he won’t let any of us touch and I brought enough food and water that we won’t have to come back up here for breaks that often,” Clyde responded.

“Ok, good,” Cartman approved.

“So what’s the plan?” 

“What do you mean?” Stan queried. “I thought we were just going to search everywhere we could and see if we can find anything.”

“Typical,” Craig commented.

“What?”

“You guys always do this. You come up with these ideas, but you don’t bother to plan ahead and then you end up in some ridiculous and dangerous situation that has escalated beyond your control.”

“Yeah well, what are you bringing to the table Craig? Your sparkling personality?” Cartman quipped.

“I brought this, actually,” he said, pulling a handful of material out of his pocket.

“How the fuck is that helpful? It just looks like a bunch of pieces of cloth.”

“That’s because it _is_ ‘a bunch of pieces of cloth’. Congrats on being so observant.” Craig said. “They’re for tying around trees and shit so that we know where we’ve already been and don’t waste our time looking in the same place twice.”

“Ok, that’s actually pretty smart, I wasn’t expecting that,” Cartman conceded.

“You’re welcome,” Craig replied. “I also brought a shovel in case we end up having to dig anything up,” he added, not realising how it could have come across as insensitive.

Tweek bit his lip nervously as he observed the others expressions following Craig’s statement. “Um, I also brought some stuff that we might need,” he said quickly before any arguments could break out, “just in case.”

“Oh, cool,” Kenny commented, thankful for the distraction, “what is it?”

“Ah, hang on, I’ll show you.” Tweek let go of Craig’s hand and took off towards what seemed to be Craig’s dad’s car, turning back and motioning for them to follow when he realised they weren’t behind him. 

Craig sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and starting to trail after the other boy. “I tried to him we didn’t need it,” he pointed out, “but he said he’d feel safer bringing it so I didn’t try to stop him.”

The other’s followed as Tweek approached the vehicle, their curiosity piqued by what Craig had said. They tried to peer over his shoulder as he pressed the button on the hood, wondering what could possibly be under it to cause such a reaction. He lifted it to reveal that the trunk was stocked with enough weapons to supply a small army. 

“Ok, so basically you can take whatever you want,” Tweek stated, “but the stuff at the back is only for if shit gets really bad and we need a backup plan so I would advise you not to touch it. Also, there aren’t enough flare guns here for everyone to have one so if we split up it has to be at least in pairs, although I hope it doesn’t come to that because we all know that only bad things happen when people split up in situations like this. I also have a first aid kit and spare gloves in case anyone needs some.”

His speech was met with complete silence and he whipped around to see the others staring at the contents of the trunk with slack-jawed expressions. “What is it?” he questioned anxiously. “Did I not bring enough?”

“Holy shit Tweek!” Kenny exclaimed. “Where the hell did you get all of this?”

“It looks like you took the entirety of my uncle’s shop and just dumped it into the trunk of a car,” Stan observed.

Tweek shrugged. “Well, it’s always good to be prepared for the worst, right?”

“Tweek, this isn’t an episode of Stranger Things,” Clyde pointed out. “We’re not hunting the fucking demogorgon.”

“How do you know for sure that we’re not?” Tweek questioned. 

Clyde turned to Token with a look of concern. “Are we?”

Token sighed. “No Clyde, we’re not.”

“Are those actual bear traps?” Butters inquired, looking more than a little concerned.

“Yep,” Craig replied, seemingly unfazed at the amount of weapons Tweek had just happened to get a hold of and bring with them.

“I thought I’d bring those just in case,” Tweek explained.

“Just in case of what?!” Stan exclaimed.

Tweek shot an irritated look at him. “Just in case of fucking bears,” he answered as if it was obvious. “Or aliens, or monsters or any other kind of wild animal or dangerous person that might be out for blood,” he listed off, counting each one on his fingers for emphasis. “I mean look around you! We’re in a secluded area of the mountains not far from the craziest town in America! What the fuck makes you think we wouldn’t need to bring a bear trap or two?”

“Things do escalate pretty quickly around here,” Craig supplied. “Especially when you guys are involved.” Tweek smiled at him warmly, silently thanking the boy for backing him up and not treating him as if he was being irrational like the others were.

“It’s not like we go looking for danger,” Stan protested. “Things just happen sometimes, you already know that.”

“Which is why it’s a good idea to prepare for the worst,” Tweek concluded.

Stan was about to argue when Cartman brushed past him, peering into the trunk to get a better look at some of the guns, Kenny following behind him. “Is that a flamethrower?” Cartman questioned, pointing at something a little further back. Tweek nodded. “Sweet.”

“Ok I guess we’re taking weapons now,” Stan mumbled. “This couldn’t possibly go wrong at all.”

“Chill out, Stan. Stop being so cynical,” Kenny admonished, grabbing a pistol from the trunk and pocketing it. “We’re not actually going to use any of this unless we need to.”

“It’s not you I don’t trust,” Stan frowned.

“Yeah, I’m not comfortable with _all_ of us having guns either,” Token disclosed, nodding not-so-subtly in Cartman’s direction.

Cartman sighed loudly and turned to face the rest of the group. “Ok, I get it. You don’t trust me with a gun,” he acknowledged, rolling his eyes at the silence and awkward body language his statement was met with. “Fine. I’ll just take this then,” he compromised, pulling a small dagger out and making a point of holding it up to show the others that was all he was taking.

“Actually, that’s mine,” said Craig.

“So take something else!” Cartman snapped. “It’s not like you’re short on options here.”

Craig flipped a middle finger at him, but didn’t protest any further. He picked up a bat that had nails hammered into the end of it and weighed it in his hand, making a face and deciding it would do for now. This seemed to be the deciding factor for Clyde and Butters, who stepped forward to claim their own weapons. 

Token and Stan watched for a second, before shrugging and joining the others. “Ok, we’ll take them,” Token gave in, “but only one each and if the girls ask questions when they turn up, I’m not gonna be the one to explain.”

“The girls?” Cartman questioned. “You invited girls? What the fuck?”

“Wendy and Bebe overheard us talking about it at lunch yesterday and wanted to help and then Red was all like ‘someone’s got to make sure my cousin doesn’t do something stupid and get himself killed out in the wilderness’,” Clyde said, ignoring the glare Craig sent his way when he imitated his cousin. “So we said they could tag along.”

Stan flinched, dropping the gun he’d been inspecting and causing Tweek to let out a high pitched noise as it clattered loudly against some of the other weapons. “Wendy’s coming?”

“Well shit, now you’ve fucking done it.”


	3. Something's Afoot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't think of a title for this chapter so I decided to do a total break from the genre and make it an awful pun.

When the girls finally did show up, they brought with them an air of awkwardness and discomfort that felt almost stifling.

Stan refused to so much as look at Wendy and it was painfully obvious in the way he stared off in the opposite direction. On top of that, Bebe and Red were glaring at him from time to time, clearly clued in on the drama that had transpired between the couple before they broke up. A few minutes into their arrival, when Tweek was talking them through the various weapons he’d brought, Stan had walked away from the group to wait near the path they were going to be following. 

Kenny and Butters had followed reluctantly, knowing that they were probably about to get an earful from Stan about the situation. Cartman had stayed behind to make sure the girls knew that today was serious business despite the fact that they had already assured him several times that they knew that and were starting to get annoyed at his insistence that they could still leave if they wanted to.

“I can’t believe those assholes invited Wendy after all the shit they know I’ve been through with her,” Stan rambled in a hushed tone, glancing over at the group briefly to check if any of them were looking over. 

“Well I heard she was going out with Token now...” Butters said, immediately regretting it.

“What?!” Stan exclaimed, his voice climbing in volume and creating an echo that drew the attention of the others. He stalked toward Butters, grabbing his shoulder. His grip wasn’t too rough, but he was still holding a gun that he’d grabbed from Tweek’s weapon stash in his other hand so the action ended up looking way more threatening than he intended it to. “Are you sure about that? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

Butters was frozen on the spot, staring at Stan with a deep look of concern as he stammered out the beginnings of a response, his eyes darting between the gun and Stan’s face. The rest of the group watched in silence. Craig’s gang seemed more irritated that Stan’s group were already causing a scene than concerned for Butters’ safety, but the girls almost looked ready to step in. Kenny glanced at the boys in front of him and then back at the group, noticing Bebe’s fingers tighten on the handle of a knife she just picked up.

Cartman was no help, he simply raised an eyebrow at them from where he stood and folded his arms like a disappointed parent. It was a weird look on him, a little too familiar to the kind of look Kyle used to give him whenever he was up to something morally questionable. Sometimes, Kenny had this hunch that Cartman had spent a lot more time with Kyle than either of them let on when the redhead was still around. It was little details like this that made that hunch seem more and more like it was actually a reality.

Realising that he wasn’t going to get any help diffusing the situation, Kenny sighed before wedging himself between the two boys and pushing Stan’s hand off of Butters’ shoulder. In any other situation he would have cracked a joke about how this wasn’t the first time he’d been in this position, but he knew this wasn’t the time or place for that. He resolved to save it for a time in the future when this whole situation would just be another anecdote about the bizarre adventures they always seem to wind up having.

“Hey don’t fucking shoot the messenger!” he scolded, throwing Stan a pointed look. He then caught sight of the gun still in Stan’s hand and eyed it wearily, “...literally.”

Stan followed Kenny’s gaze down to the weapon in his hand and realisation lit up his features. He mumbled what sounded like an apology and took a few steps back, letting the tension seep out of his muscles until he didn’t look so ready to fight anymore. Their audience continued to observe them for a moment, turning their attention back to the task at hand and resuming their previous chatter when they were sure the confrontation was over.

Stan made sure that the group was thoroughly distracted before he directed his attention back to his friends. “Why didn’t either of you think to tell me?” he almost whispered, more aware of how his voice carried now.

“Well you were already depressed about Kyle going missing and the breakup and it didn’t feel like a good time to say anything,” Butters answered, looking down at his feet as he kicked some snow around absentmindedly.

Stan frowned. “So what you just thought you’d wait until I saw them making out from across the lunch hall or something?” he asked.

Kenny was about to answer for Butters, who understandably seemed a lot more reluctant to say anything now, when Cartman bounded over to them. 

“What the fuck are you assholes doing over here?” he questioned as he joined them. “What was all that about?”

“Stan’s bitter about Wendy being here and with Token,” Kenny replied, ignoring the glare Stan sent his way.

Cartman sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes at the other boy. He didn’t have time for this kind of shit right now. “Stan, could you do us all a favour and not drag whatever soap opera bullshit you’ve got going on with Wendy into this?” he requested. “We don’t need you getting distracted or starting a fight just because your ex girlfriend is after Token’s dick now instead of yours. We have a job to do and that means everyone needs to focus.”

“Don’t fucking talk about her like that dude!” Stan snapped, looking at Cartman with as much venom in his expression as he could muster. His fists were clenched so hard his hands were trembling ever so slightly. “How would you feel if Heidi was here and someone told you they heard she was dating Clyde or something?”

“Dude I wouldn’t give two shits if Heidi was here with someone else!” he replied. “I’m not interested in her like that anymore, it would be like being into a sibling or something. Gross.” He grimaced at the thought before continuing. “Even if I was though I would still be able to save the theatrics and revenge for later when I wasn’t trying to do something important or I’d multitask and do both brilliantly because I’m not an incompetent hippie who lets his emotions make him sloppy.”

Stan levelled him with a glare that could have turned him to stone had he been someone who was easier to intimidate, but instead Cartman met it steadily with an irritated scowl of his own. Kenny and Butters were spectators to this stare down, deciding it was best just to not get involved on this occasion. They knew that Stan needed a bit of a kick up the backside this time and that Cartman was good at making people re-evaluate themselves even if he did have a pretty harsh way of going about it.

Stan seemed to waver a little, but he didn’t back down just yet. “Just stop being such a goddamn dick about it,” he demanded. “You wouldn’t like it if someone was here ripping into you for getting tunnel vision whenever Kyle’s involved so stop fucking doing the same to me about Wendy!”

Cartman faltered, momentarily caught off guard by the fact that Stan had actually called him out on that. He had to school his expression back into one of annoyance before responding. 

“Alright, fine,” he said before approaching the other boy, “but you have to get a fucking grip, Stan. We can’t have you starting gender war two while we’re trying to complete a search and rescue mission.” He poked the other in the chest as he spoke to emphasize his point.

“Fine,” Stan conceded, brushing Cartman’s hand away with a frown. “I’ll just ignore her if I have to.”

“Good.”

“Great.

“Perfect.”

“Super.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic.”

“Guys!” Kenny interrupted, noticing that the girls and Craig’s group were approaching.

“What?!” they snapped in unison, their expressions falling when they saw that the others had formed a crowd and were waiting for them to finish.

“So are we doing this or do you two wanna stand out here throwing adjectives back and forth for the rest of the day?” Craig asked.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Stan conceded, turning his back to the group and walking toward the same line of trees Cartman had watched Kyle disappear into the night he went missing.

“Ey!” Cartman yelled, sprinting off to catch up with him. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going? I was the one who saw where Kyle went, I should be the leader!” 

Kenny and Butters gave the others apologetic looks, the former shrugging his shoulders a little as if to say ‘what can you do?’. Craig sighed and hoisted a backpack onto his shoulder and the rest of the group took this as confirmation to move out.

Cartman soon found that the forest looked entirely different in the daylight. The night Kyle and Ike went missing, it had taken him almost no time at all to move through it, frantically avoiding obstacles in his way and rushing to keep up with the echoes of voices before they could dissipate into the frigid mountain air. In the light of day things were a little less straightforward. Several different paths splintered off into the woods, all branching out and winding in different directions and this time there were no voices or footprints to guide him.

It was a process of trial and error and the first few routes Cartman led them down had either come to a dead end or looped right back around to where they first started, taking a frustrating hour and a half out of their time and forcing them to start again twice. The mood had gradually gotten worse among the group too if that was even possible. Most of them were just fed up with Cartman’s insistence that he could find the right track when he clearly hadn’t been able to deliver so far. 

However, the little habits and quirks of the group seemed ten times more annoying when everyone was already stressed out from the cold and the amount of time they were taking to find something. Tweek was flinching and jumping into a fighting stance at random noise and rattling off stories about various people who’d died of mysterious causes in the wilderness, Butters occasionally hummed tunes whenever the group fell silent, Kenny pointed out every tree that was vaguely shaped like particular parts of the human anatomy and Stan tutted every time Wendy or Token said something remotely nice to each other in conversation. Needless to say everyone was pretty irate by the time they’d made it a good distance into their newest path and it would only take one small thing for the group to devolve into chaos.

Butters started humming again and several people’s shoulders tensed. Cartman grit his teeth, rapidly losing patience with the lack of focus the group was displaying. Usually when they tried to execute a plan together, they listened to him and it worked, but so far this entire operation had been a mess. If he’d known Craig’s group was gonna invite the girls, he wouldn’t have asked them to come. Without Kyle their dynamic was a little off, but it seemed that adding girls to the mix had distracted people who were usually essential to making sure his plans ran smoothly.

The way things were going so far, Cartman may as well have just come up here by himself and not told anyone. He probably would have made more progress by now if he had.

Clyde’s voice joining Butters’ obnoxious humming was the final nail in the coffin. “...well you can tell by the way I use my walk I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk-”

“Shut the fuck up!” a chorus of voices intervened simultaneously. Butters seemed surprised, but Clyde automatically looked in a different direction, trying unsuccessfully to pretend he had nothing to do with it.

“Ok you know what? This is ridiculous!” Bebe huffed. “We’ve been out here for about two hours now and we’re still not even close to finding this damn clearing you were telling us about,” she stressed. “You’re lost, aren’t you?”

“I’m not lost!” Cartman argued. “This place just looks different in the daytime ok? I’m just not one hundred percent sure which was the exact way I went.”

Red rolled her eyes dramatically before interjecting. “That’s what lost means you fat fucking idiot.”

“Ok Red, you’re being a little hostile, you might wanna tone it down.”

“Tone it down?” she questioned. “My toes are numb, I’m out here in the wilderness with you assholes when I could be enjoying my weekend and now you’re telling me you don’t know where you’re going and you want me to tone it down?”

“Maybe we should actually use one of the maps or Token’s GPS watch,” Wendy suggested. “That could help us find the place faster than just wandering around hoping that we chose the right path.” Stan scoffed at the mention of Token’s name and upon hearing it Wendy immediately halted and glared at the back of his head. “Ok, what is your problem, Stan?” she demanded, causing the rest of the group to stop walking.

“Oh shit here we go,” Kenny murmured.

“Unbelievable,” Cartman sighed. “This is why you don’t invite the girls,” He grumbled, turning away from the oncoming fight and strolling a little further down the path to scope out the area for any signs of the clearing. The rest of the group stayed put, eyeing the two wearily.

Stan slowly turned to face her, tension evident throughout his posture. “You wanna know what my problem is?” he questioned. “What’s your problem?! We have a job to do here and you’re treating it like a romantic stroll in the woods!”

“Excuse me!” Wendy snapped. “I’m just making a suggestion here! We broke up weeks ago because you couldn’t get your head out of your ass and stop blaming yourself and me for not being there when Kyle went missing. Now I’m here trying to help you look for him and it’s still not fucking good enough, you’re still acting like a child because you can’t handle that I’m moving on with my life!”

“Shit,” Kenny whispered, just loud enough for himself and Butters to hear. 

Stan stared at her blankly, his expression slowly morphing into one of irritation. “You know what, Wendy?” he said, stepping a little closer. 

“What, Stan?” Wendy challenged.

The boys looked on with intrigue, curious to see if Stan would actually be able to stay mad at her or go through with whatever it was he was going to say. The girls watched him with matching frowns, their arms folded, daring him to say something bad to or about their best friend. 

“You can take your help and you can shove it right up your-”

A loud, haunting shriek interrupted their argument, echoing in the air around them and shocking them into a stunned silence. The confrontation was immediately forgotten, none of them wanting to speak in case the sound attracted any unwanted attraction. They looked at each other with wide eyes, holding their breath as they waited to see if it would happen again. The suspense almost felt tangible as they stood perfectly still and quiet. After a minute or two with no sign of any repeats they allowed themselves to relax.

Tweek was clenching his fists, his stance ready to defend against an attack. “What the actual fuck was that?” 

“It was probably just an animal,” Craig stated, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.

“That didn’t sound Iike any animal I’ve ever heard,” Clyde commented, receiving a pointed look from the others and a mumbled “You’re not helping” from Token.

“I hope it’s not in pain,” Stan commented, looking off into the trees as if he might be able to see something if he tried hard enough.

“GUYS!” Cartman’s voice bellowed, making a few of them jump. His face appeared from behind a tree up ahead and he waved them over with a look of exasperation. “Quit standing around and get your asses over here!” he called before disappearing back behind it.

The group complied, shuffling toward the spot Cartman had appeared from without too much complaint, still partially distracted by the unnerving noise they’d just heard. It didn’t stop Red from mumbling “I’m actually going to murder him,” as she nudged a stone out of her path with her foot though. The girls still didn’t seem particularly happy with the current set of circumstances despite the fact that it seemed Cartman had finally made some actual progress.

As they neared the tree, Cartman was already there waiting for them, holding a branch out of the way with an annoyingly victorious smile on his face. “I told you I’d find it,” he said smugly as the last person entered, crossing his arms over his chest and he leaning against the tree behind him.

“Ok so we found the place,” Token commented as he watched the others inspect the area. “What now?” 

“I didn’t actually see where they went from here, they were moving too fast for me to keep up,” Cartman admitted. “It was either further in that direction...” he pointed at the line of trees directly opposite where he was standing, “or through here,” he gestured to a spot to his left.

“How do you know?” Wendy asked.

Cartman opened his mouth to answer, looking a little too full of himself, but ended up pulling a face instead when Stan interrupted with his own explanation. “Because the branches and undergrowth are disturbed in those directions,” Stan answered matter-of-factly, “which means that someone has been through there.”

“Yes, thank you Bear Grylls,” Cartman responded bitterly. “I could have explained that myself, but go ahead you’re the expert.” 

Stan was about to make a snarky comment about him being too slow, but Clyde suddenly piped up from the spot opposite them that Cartman had first gestured to. “Woah, look there’s a really weird footprint over here!” he announced, pointing at a patch of ground in front of him. The others slowly crowded around to check it out. “What kind of beast do you think that belongs to?”

“Holy shit, that’s so freaky,” Tweek commented.

Wendy sighed reluctantly before turning to look at the two boys that had yet to join them. “What kind of animal leaves tracks like this, Stan?” she asked tentatively, willing to offer a truce if it meant he would share his knowledge on the subject with them.

Stan shot Cartman a triumphant look and the latter rolled his eyes in a disgruntled fashion. He waved the boy away though and let a reluctant smile through once everyone’s backs were turned. He was actually kind of glad that Stan’s interest in animals and nature had finally given a reason to stop sulking and contribute something.

Stan crouched down to inspect the shape of the footprint, his brow creasing in thought. “I don’t know. From the toes It almost looks… human?” he explained, pointing at the area to highlight the five toes, “but that’s not possible because the heel isn’t the right shape and it kind of looks almost too stretched out to be human too. It’s not shaped like any animal tracks I can think of either though. The foot is too narrow for it to belong to a bear...” He traced over the shape before settling his elbow on his knee and holding his chin in his hand. “So weird, I’ve never seen animal tracks like this before.” He reached down and touched the snow before inhaling sharply. 

“What?” Clyde asked, fully invested in Stan’s observations.

“I can’t tell you what made this, but I can tell you one thing,” he said, looking up at the others with a serious expression. “Whatever it is... it’s close.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of Stan drama in this chapter not gonna lie. It wasn’t my favourite chapter to write either because I’ve been in a bit of a low mood where I’m tearing into everything I create lately.
> 
> This was originally going to be ridiculously long, but I split it into two different chapters instead so there should be another update really soon. Things are about to start kicking off.


End file.
